Monday, March 19, 2007

Retro Mall Video - Menudo In A Shopping Mall

Menudo "In A Shopping Mall" - 1983

Like a really cruddy signal from some long-lost UHF channel comes this colorfully crazy and rather loud(!) music video clip from 1983 (Ricky Martin didn't join till '84), of Puerto Rican boy band sensation, Menudo, singing a groovy song about shopping malls. Inside a shopping mall.

I remember this. It was part of one of the first big Menudo promotions in the US. NBC would run their videos between Saturday morning cartoons. The videos themselves were half in Spanish and half in English.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I nearly fell over in my chair and choked on my taco.I do remember NBC forcing us to watch Menudo videos between much-adored cartoons. It was either that or "In The News" on CBS. However, we didn't fall for any of that subconscious bilingual education or current events exposure; just the Super Friends!Funny, it all came back with just this one video! Set the wayback machines!Scott

It was actually ABC that broadcasted Menudo on Saturday Mornings. They were used to teach Spanish to the young viewers, starting in the 1983-1984 season. "Menudo on ABC" might have ran for one additional season.

randy said... It was actually ABC that broadcasted Menudo on Saturday Mornings. They were used to teach Spanish to the young viewers, starting in the 1983-1984 season. "Menudo on ABC" might have ran for one additional season.

From what I understand, yes this was ABC that forced this on us back in the 1983-84 season. Menudo also did the theme song to one cartoon on the schedule "Rubik, The Amazing Cube" (don't ask, it was the 80's and cartoons here terrible then, and ABC's was no exception). Ironically I hardly knew of Menudo at all back when this was going on (being 6 was probably good for me since I didn't have to comprehend any of it I would later with "New Kids on the Block").

I guess in the end, the whole Hispanic-awareness thing didn't last too long with The Big Three, and we were back to normal afterwards, though imagine how much different things could be if it had continued to today. Still, I wouldn't mind going back to those days again personally, a hell lot better than the world we live in nowadays (what with shopping malls in the state their in).